Speakers

Dato’ Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, an Infectious Disease Specialist, is the Chief Executive Officer, Pro Vice-Chancellor and President at Monash University Malaysia.  Prof Kamarulzaman is also an honorary Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Universiti Malaya.  She is also Chair of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, Co-Chair of the WHO Science Council, Commissioner for the Global Commission on Drug Policy, founder of CERiA: Center of Excellence for Research in AIDS, former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine , and past-president of International AIDS Society.  Dr. Kamarulzaman has dedicated her career to the prevention, treatment and research of infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. She is also a strong advocate for HIV prevention, treatment and care programs in key population groups.  Prof Adeeba will play an active role in the MIST 2023 bootcamp.

Prof Sten H. Vermund, MD, PhD, is the Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health, and former Dean (2017-2022) of the Yale School of Public Health, and also serves as a Professor in Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, US, and Visiting Professor at Universiti Malaya. He is a pediatrician and infectious disease epidemiologist focused on diseases of low and middle-income countries.  Prof Vermund is the recipient of Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence in Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, US. Dr. Vermund’s research background encompasses epidemiology, clinical trials, and implementation research, namely bringing efficacious clinical and public health tools to the field for assessing efficacy and scaling up in operations for HIV care and cervical cancer screening. In addition to the lectures on Implementation Science, creative community engagement, Prof Sten will lead a series of skill building workshops and will join audience driven sessions in MIST 2023 bootcamp.

Prof Rick Altice, MD, MA

Rick Altice is a professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health and is a clinician, clinical epidemiologist, intervention and implementation science researcher at Yale University School of Medicine and School of Public Health.  He is also serving as a Visiting Professor at Universiti Malaya. His work has emerged primarily with a global health focus with funded research projects internationally in Malaysia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, and Indonesia. He is currently also collaborating on projects with the NIH,WHO, UNAIDS, USAID, PEPFAR and UNODC. He is currently the director for two International Implementation Science Research and Training Centers with collaborations between Yale University and the University of Malaya and Sichuan University.  Prof Rick will conduct a live Nominal Group Technique session and share his real-world implementation experience during war and pandemic during MIST Bootcamp 2023.

Assoc. Prof Luke Davis, MD

Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, US,  affiliated faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health and visiting professor at Universiti Malaya.  Prof Luke Davis teaches implementation science course and mentor students at the Yale School of Public Health, and actively involved in several international research training programs focused on implementation science.  Luke Davis’s research is based in low and middle income settings and uses implementation research methods to improve TB diagnosis and evaluation in high-burden, resource-constrained settings.  In addition to the lectures on Implementation Science, Prof Davis will shed lights on adapting evidence-based interventions in new contexts during MIST Bootcamp.

Lynn Madden, PhD, MPA:

Lynn Madden is a Chief Executive Officer at APT Foundation, a non-profit agency founded in 1970 by members of the Yale University Department of Psychiatry to promote health and recovery for those who live with substance use disorders and/or mental illness.  Dr Madden holds a position as an assistant professor in the Yale School of Medicine AIDS program and as a faculty member in addiction medicine. Her interests and pursuits include large- and small-scale implementation projects that are focused on access to and quality in mental health care and substance abuse treatment services including integration with primary care, and integration of treatment for infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and HCV. Lynn Madden will coach and certify the MIST Bootcamp participants with an official credentialing on NIATX (www.NIATx.net) that allows clients and providers in healthcare to make small changes that have a big impact on outcomes.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki, MBChB,MPH,DrPH :

Associate Prof. Dr. Rafdzah Binti Ahmad Zaki is a highly accomplished Public Health Medicine Specialist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Her research interests include epidemiology, implementation science, infectious diseases, and statistical methods. She serves as the Head of the Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Practice, Chairman of the TB Monitoring and Prevention Committee at UMMC, Secretary of the UMMC Vaccine Action Committee, and a UMMC COVID-19 Taskforce Committee member. Dr Zaki will conduct interactive sessions, skill-building workshops and panel discussions in the Bootcamp.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Reena Rajasuriar, MPharm, PhD:

Reena Rajasuriar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Universiti Malaya and an adjunct Research Fellow at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne University, Australia.  Dr. Rajasuriar coordinates the translational research program in HIV immunology at Universiti Malaya.  Her current research focusses on the immunopathogenesis of aging in HIV and its impact on health outcomes.  Reena Rajasuriar and Sheela Shenoi will speak about implementation science strategies, ageing and HIV in a topical session of the summer bootcamp.

Ashley Hagaman, PhD, MPH:

Ashley Hagaman, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. She is also a qualitative methodologist with the Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Anthropology.  She contributes to the development of innovative qualitative and mixed-methods to improve the study and implementation of evidence-based health practices, incorporating and testing new passive data collection strategies and rapid analytic techniques.  Dr Hagaman will speak about innovative qualitative and mixed method approaches to strengthen implementation science.

Dr Lim Sin How, MSHCA, PhD:

Dr Howie Lim is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. In Malaysia, stigma and violence towards MSM have heightened. Over the past years, Dr Lim has worked with local non-profit organizations in Malaysia to enhance preventive and treatment programs for sexual minorities.  Currently, he is collaborating with community-based organizations and a social media firm in Malaysia to improve an online HIV Self Testing service for MSM.   In a two-expert panel in MIST Bootcamp, Dr Howie will be paired with Prof Iskandar Azwa to share implementation research findings with MSM.

Dr Nur Afiqah Mohd Salleh, MPH,PhD

Dr Nur Afiqah is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Dr. Nur Afiqah’s past research work has examined institutional-related structures associated with optimal adherence to HIV treatment among HIV-positive people who use illicit drugs (PWUD). Her current research activities have incorporated a community-based participiatory research component to engage with local communities of PWUD and NGOs that serve these populations, whose collective views in the design and implementation of health programs are key in developing effective interventions.  She is also the advisor of the Student-Led Action for Evidence-Based Drug Policies (SLED), run by youths for youths.  During the bootcamp, Iqa Saleh will share her years of experience in working with the community to design and implement health programs.

Dr Rumana Akhter Saifi, MSS,MA,MPH,PhD

Dr Rumana Saifi is the Director of CERiA: Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS and also, serves as a Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. Since its establishment in 2007, CERiA has been the leading centre in Malaysia conducting HIV-related research in various fields including epidemiology, social-behavioural, clinical and basic science. Dr Rumana Saifi’s current research portfolio considers a combination of social and epidemiological approaches for disease prevention, treatment and care. With academic training in demography and epidemiology, she has been working in the field of population health for the last 16 years in the Asia-Pacific. The gap between HIV prevention efforts and the associated risk factors in key-affected populations are getting wider. Hence, her interest is to design cost effective and high impact interventions, which can have a policy-mark.  During 2023 Bootcamp, Rumana Saifi will speak about addressing stigma at scale by harnessing  on implementation science. 

Prof Denise Esserman, PhD

Denise Esserman is a Professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health, US.  As a member of the Yale Center for Analytical Sciences, she collaborates with a number of departments at the Yale School of Medicine, including the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Cancer Center.  Denise Esserman will introduce the audience to methodological and statistical considerations in implementation research during MIST Bootcamp.  In addition, Prof Esserman will be available for ‘Ask the Expert’ session to offer consultation on’ projects and grants.

Jen Edelman, MD, MHS, BS:

Jennifer Edelman, is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health, Director of the Research on Addiction Medicine Scholars Program and co-Director of Education at the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale University. Certified as an internist, HIV specialist and in Addiction Medicine, she serves as an HIV provider and the physician consultant in the Addiction Medicine Treatment Program at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. Her research focuses on optimizing HIV prevention and treatment in the context of substance use, including opioid, alcohol and tobacco use.  Dr Edelman’s plenary session at the bootcamp will focus on substance use disorder in HIV implementation science. In her capacity as a member of NIH grant review committees, Jen Edelman will provide feedback on proposals and research led by the Bootcamp participants. 

Prof Dr Sanjay Rampal, MBBS,MPH,PhD:

Dr Rampal is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Universiti Malaya. He is a Public Health Physician and serves as the Deputy Dean of Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya. He also chairs the National Conjoint Committee for Public Health Postgraduate Medical Program, Malaysia. Dr Rampal’s research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on nutrition, obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and dyslipidemia. Dr Rampal is the chairman for the Public Health Society and Malaysian Medical Association.  He will lead panel discussion on integration of implementation science into academic training programs in MIST 2023 Bootcamp.

Prof Dr Victor Hoe, MBBS, MPH, M.Eng, M.OSH, PhD:

Dr Victor Hoe is a Professor of Occupational and Public Health. He heads the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti  Malaya and the Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Unit in University Malaya Medical Centre. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was part of the team that transform the 8-weeks Community Posting programme for the undergraduate medical programme from a field posting to an online posting. The core of the programme of appreciating the diversity of medicine and public health was maintained through innovative approaches.  Prof Victor will share his expertise on utilizing diversity of medicine and public health in the Bootcamp.

Assoc. Prof Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH:

Sheela Shenoi is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the AIDS Program of the Section of Infectious Diseases and Associate Director of the Office of Global Health at Yale University School of Medicine, US.  Dr Shenoi is also serving as a Visiting Professor of Universiti Malaya.  She conducts clinical research on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS with a focus on resource-limited settings. She evaluates strategies to improve diagnosis, linkage and retention in care, in prison settings and exploring the role of community-based services to facilitate implementation. She prioritizes prevention strategies and integration of HIV and TB services. During the bootcamp, Sheela Shenoi will draw examples from her extensive work in Malaysian Prisons and how she leveraged on implementation science for improved outcomes.

Assoc. Prof Dr Raja Iskandar Shah Raja Azwa, MBChB, MRCP:

 

Dr Iskandar Azwa is an Associate Professor of infectious diseases at the Universiti Malaya, with an interest in sexual health and HIV medicine. Iskandar Azwa serves as the president of Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC). He is presently the Clinical Lead for the HIV outpatient and inpatient service at University Malaya Medical Centre. Dr Azwa’s research interests centre around biomedical approaches to HIV prevtention, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among key populations, human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, anal cancer in men who have sex with men (MSM), mobile health interventions and HIV associated co-morbidities.  Dr Azwa will lead session on young men who have sex with men in the summer bootcamp.